Yokogawa America do Sul Ltda., a subsidiary of Yokogawa Electric Corporation, has received an order to supply the control system and field instruments for the São Miguel dos Campos second-generation bioethanol plant.
The plant is projected to have a production capacity of 82 million liters per year and is being constructed by GranBio in São Miguel dos Campos, a town in Alagoas state (northeast Brazil).
As opposed to first-generation facilities that produce bioethanol from food products such as corn and sugarcane, this plant is designed to rely on second-generation non-food sources such as woodchips and straw.
São Miguel dos Campos is the first plant of its type to be constructed in the southern hemisphere, and it will be one of the world’s largest such facilities in terms of production capacity. It is scheduled to start commercial operation in early 2014.
Satoshi Yoshida, the president of Yokogawa America do Sul, said, “Brazil is a dominant player in the bioethanol market, second only to the United States. The biofuel market is steadily growing, and second-generation biofuel is attracting attention as an environmentally friendly energy source.”
